Geneffects

I write the software for Geneffects and tend bar at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC.

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Evil Wiener / Ghosts of Rock

Last night was my night off before the long drive. I stopped by Ron and Soliel's place to get some work for L&KFA, and Ron told me about the birthday party for Karen being thrown at the 506. Usually I shy away from this kind of thing, but the bands playing - Evil Wiener and Ghosts of Rock - were just so cool that I couldn't pass up.

Before the show Josh and I got together, played some b-ball and drank some 24oz Pabst on the railroad tracks behind the Teeter. Josh is a cool kid, but I don't think he considers this town his home - or he doesn't feel at home. I think that'd change if he found himself a nice woman-type.

We get there just about when the Wiener started. Billy gave me a brief moment of fame when he pointed me out as the web designer for their site. Doing Ron's page, singer for The Ghosts of Rock, made me the web head for the night.

Probably the most comfortable I have ever been at the 506. It felt like not only did I know half the people, but I was was friends (or at least friendly) with them. Ned was there looking as awkward as usual. The perennial Matt and Ashley. Laird and Kevin Dixon. Jenny and Trish. Wolf-man Jeff. Chuck, Groves, Carson, Anedeliene, Lewis, Lizzy Shelton, Frodo. Glen Booth was there and I finally got the perfect chance to tell him he looks like exactly Colin Quinn because "Tough Crowd" turned on the TV right behind his candy-selling head. I wanted to do the karaoke, but there was no topping the "Baby Got Back" performance. Maybe if I learned the words to "O.P.P."

I probably shouldn't drink like that any more though as I was crapping blood today.

Dead Meadow / Icarus Line

I've been looking forward to the Dead Meadow show for several weeks. I
heard them over the PA in between sets for a previous show and was just
blown away. I just talked with Steve from the band after he asked me
for more beer. I told him the story of my fandom; he said, "thanks,"
and smiled the yellowest set of of choppers I've seen beyond BBC
programming.

The band 400 Blows is playing as I type this. Immediately the ear
plugs went in. Jokes on their name aside, this band is really
horrible. Thankfully there aren't many people here, so I can just zone
out and play Dungeon of Doom. When people come back to the bar I have
to resist saying, " is this not the worst thing you've ever heard?"
'Cause who knows? This could be their favorite band in the world. It
is a funny result of having over 6 billion people on this planet: No
matter how much your band sucks, someone out there will love it.

Icarus Line played an okay set, but I'm not surprised there was no
encore - there were like twenty people in the audience by the time they
went on.

Lyme Disease

Yesterday I found this rash the size of a Sacagawea where I think a tick bite had been. I was on the Pfizer site the other day and it showed some pictures and said that such rashes develop from a week to a month after the bite. Well... that's about right.

So, I'm off to the poor people's doctor tomorrow. Pfizer sez there are antibiotics to treat the disease. Hopefully I can afford them. I'll find a way... the idea of spirochetes in my blood is not appealing. I love working at the Cradle and all, but I seriously need to get some health insurance.

The Worst Blowcase

I am not kidding here. Okay, first, for those not initiated, the Sunday Showcase goes from 4 to midnight and features 8 bands who on any other day would have no chance in hell in playing at the Cradle. Very rarely there is a band of good quality. Kerbloki and A Problem of Alarming Dimensions both played the showcase, and they rock, but this happens only once or twice a year.

Today is by far the worst.

This band is pure noise Everything is improve - at least I hope it is. The few tones which were audible above the ring modulation were out of tune. The best part was when they called some grotesquely ectomorphic kid on stage to dance around. We did brisk earplug sales, but I think if we had also sold one-shot pistols, we would have had some takers.

Steve Balmer and the DKT/MC5

Holy living fuck. Given that is is 3AM an things are kind of creepy in general... still, this video scared the shit out of me. I'm not kidding.
The DKT/MC5 was not the busiest show by a long stretch, but it was by far the most tip money for the least amount of work I have ever received.

Tha Bulls

Wednesday we went to the Durham Bulls game. It was pretty much as expected. I brought $40 hoping to not spend it all, but knowing in the back of my mind that I'd probably come close. The ticket's cost as much as a movie, but it was the food... and the tubs of beer that really brought down the expense hammer. We ended up leaving early because it was so friggin' hot.
Thursday dinner was at Dad's house with aunt Cathy ("Big Blimp"). I was going through their recently viewed movies and uncovered a copy of Flesh Gordon.
Later that night I partied with the kids from A Problem of Alarming Dimensions.

Brett and son have a talk.

Dad, is Billy's dad older than you?
No, son, I'm pretty sure not.
Well the other day when I was at Billy's house, I saw Billy's dad come
out of the shower, and judging by his pee-pee size, he's gotta be at
least twice your age.

Ron Sexsmith

The guy in the opening band tonight, Griffin House, man he struck out
big time. He chatted these two girls up for the longest time. Then he
asks them back to the bus. They go back to the bus, but then like five
minutes later they leave all pissed off looking. It was great!
I think I'm going to start a new band named either Vegan Vampires, or
The Teen Sex Addicts.

Supersuckers

These guys... These guys played three hours - straight. No band should play that long.
The gross-out of the night was seeing a woman with a skirt with her ass hanging out. The skirt was not all that short, but due to gravity and the relative lack of elasticity in her gluteals, one could not help but notice that she was not wearing any sort of undergarment.
After the show I went for a bike-ride around the local campus. Passed a construction site for the renovation of this really cool old building with a massive theatre style auditorium. The fence had this gap which was almost begging me to go in. I was too polite to say no.
Reminded me of the stories Laird would tell of people loading up high-power sling-shots with grapes and having late-night grape wars in halls of higher education.

Law Software

A friend of mine had some ideas for legal software - as in software
designed for lawyers and their paralegals. I am very interested
bringing sophisticated search technology to legal databases. Before I
get into any specifics, does anyone have any suggestions?

System 6

There's a cool program out there called vMac which runs on Mac or Windows and emulates the architecture of old Macs. You still need to get a ROM, some system software and it takes some jerry-rigging (I don't know how to spell that, but that version had the most hits on Google), but it is totally wort it to play some old 1-bit graphic games.

Search Results

After getting the awesome AWStats installed, I've been able to see the terms on which people are searching when they find Geneffects. The Vitalogy page on How to Becom Fat or Plump seems to be the biggest draw. I suspect American's aren't the ones doing those searches.
Interestingly, Geneffects is #1 for searching on effects of profanity with Google. I would prefer it be for "drum software" or "killer app" or something, but you have to start somewhere.
The Chess Sets by Brothers Dixon page has been running smoothly, and setting that sucker up is what inspired me to change hosts.

Hit by a Car

Most notably, I was hit by a car today. It probably looked much worse than it actually was. It was pretty dramatic, though; I was booted sideways off of my bike almost into oncoming traffic. Only minor scrapes.
Avery told me he showed a Geneffects card to his teacher and she recommended he present it for show-and-tell. What a little promoter!
Tuesday I was the get-away driver for former Allman Brother Dickey Betts.